


Down to where forever lies

by barkspawnvevo



Series: Conquer the stars [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, after mass effect 3, baby!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 22:17:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3912619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barkspawnvevo/pseuds/barkspawnvevo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story of a very (un)expected piece of news on the Normandy. I have a habit of naming stuff after lyrics, and this story's named after a part in Shinedown's I'll Follow You Down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Down to where forever lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title's lyrics are from the musical Moulin Rouge, from the song Elephant Medley.

It had been three years since the defeat of the Reapers. Three years since Commander Claire Shepard, the galaxy's most celebrated hero ("In this cycle", Javik would remark) had pressed the button that purged the galaxy from the enormous machines. Shepard, the great Commander Shepard had kept herself busy after recovering from the injuries she'd gotten from the last stand against the synthetic beasts: there was still Cerberus ass to kick, intel to gather and civilians to save. Everyone wanted to know what was going on with the most influencial living person. Claire Shepard, the commander of SSV Normandy...  
...was crouched in front of a toilet seat, vomiting her insides out. She was pretty certain of the reason: the Normandy hadn't been on dry dock for a month and a half now and there was a possibility some of the fresh products had gone awry. Just the ones the ship's cook had used on the dinner last night.  
"Claire?". There was a knock on the door. Kaidan. "You okay? You just jumped out of the bed, I wasn't even sure you had time to wake up", he said. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little food poisoning. Nothing serious, I'm gonna ask Chakwas for some medicine and it'll be okay", Claire assured him. She didn't need anyone to come and hold her hair when she was a bit under the weather. Not even if that person was her fiancé, the second human Spectre Kaidan Alenko. Claire rose up to her feet and walked in front of the mirror and the sink under it. She swept her dark long hair out of her face behind her ears and splashed some cold water on her face. She grabbed her military necklace from the table next to the sink and fixed it around her neck. In the necklace there were her I.D. badge and two rings: one of them a victory ring Nova had gotten from EDI before the final battle against the Reapers. The other one was a simple silver ring. Kaidan wore a similar one his necklace. It was the ring he had proposed Claire with. It had been a warm summer's evening at Vancouver. They had been visiting Kaidan's hometown, and went out one night to visit a restaurant that had been his favorite while growing up. When they were walking back to their hotel, Kaidan had suddenly turned around, went down on one knee and pulled a ring from his pocket. A pleasant memory of the proposal brought smile on Claire's lips, only to be replaced by a disgusing feeling of wave of nausea. "Uhh.. Fuck this", she muttered to herself. 

Claire stepped in to the medbay. It was quite calm, just Dr. Chakwas humming and the Normandy engines making a peaceful sound somewhere under their feet. "Shepard! Everything all right?" the doctor asked with a worried look on her face. "Could use some of the things from the med cabinet", Claire answered, "food poisoning.". "Food poisoning? Oh dear. What did you eat last night?" Chakwas asked her. "The same thing as everyone. That odd stew the cook threw together. You should probably make room in the med bay: I have a feeling that there'll be a whole lot of crew in here today", Claire said. "Huh. You're the first one yet, though, so I'll have to figure out what medicine to pass around. Sit", Chakwas ordered Claire. "So, I have all sorts of helpers in here. This one is the most efficient, this one is the most quickest.. But I think this one will do the trick. There's some conditions you shouldn't use this under, but I don't think you are intoxicated, or dextro-DNA or..", Chakwas said, read the last condition and turned to face Claire. "Shepard, when did you have your last period?" she asked. "Huh? Listen, doc. I've been under a lot of pressure and..", Claire answered but Chakwas interrupted her. "When were they?". "Since before we left the Citadel the last time.. So two months ago, I guess. But you can't mean.. That just isn't possible.". "There's only one way to find out. Come here and stand still so I can scan you", Chakwas said and gestured at Claire to stand in front of her. The doctor ran her omnitool across Shepard's body, and soon a holo of her full body floated in the air. And there it was: at the lower part of her upper body, behind her belly button, there was another heartbeat. "Congratulations, Commander", Chakwas said, "you are pregnant.".  
Just before the last words slipped out of Chakwas' lips and Claire's face turned into a dazed look, the door behind them made a soft hissing noise and Kaidan stepped in. When he heard the word, his face turned puzzled too. "Claire, what did she just say?" Kaidan asked, turning to face his fiancée who was staring at the floor with her eyes wide open. "She said.. that I'm pregnant", Claire answered, moving her hand on her belly and softly stroking it. "We're gonna have baby.".


End file.
